[fund] persecution of opposition

As protests against the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani arose amongst the public and western officials, the IRI embassy in London announced that the verdict would not be stoned to death. On the contrary, the Secretary of Judiciary Commission of Human Rights declared that death by stoning does exist in the law of the country and that it would be implemented. Now, it is feared that the Islamic Republic of Iran may decide to suddenly execute all those sentenced to stoning, either by stoning or hanging, in an attempt to quiet the rising western opposition as quickly as possible.

Change for Equality reports that Zeynab Jalalian, whose death sentence for “Enmity against God” was confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Court in November 2009, is now at risk of imminent execution. The exact date and time of the execution has not been released, but her sentence has been submitted for implementation and may take place in a matter of hours or days. This news comes from her attorney, whose efforts to represent Jalalian were rejected by the courts.

On June 6, a pair of police officers entered an Alexandria Internet cafe and began asking for the identification documents of everyone present. When 28-year-old Khaled Said objected to being searched without a warrant, the officers began to attack him, beating his head against a table and kicking him in the chest. They tied his hands behind his back and dragged him to a nearby building where they continued to smash his head, first against an iron door and then against the building's marble steps. Witnesses heard Khaled begging them to stop, screaming "I'm going to die," to which the officers responded: "You're going to die anyway." The officers dragged Said into their police car and drove him away, only to return several minutes later to leave his lifeless corpse in the street.

"I stopped counting after I had received 50 death threats. I told my secretary not to tell me about them any more," Arab-Israeli Knesset (parliament) member, Haneen Zoabi told IPS. "As a result of the death threats I’ve been given personal body guards both within the Knesset and outside," adds Zoabi. Zoabi, a member of the Arab-Israeli political party Balad, was on board the ‘Mavi Marmara’, part of the Free Gaza (FG) flotilla, when it was attacked by Israeli commandos in international waters as it tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza several weeks ago.

A few days after saying he intends to take action against Israeli professors who call for an academic boycott of Israel, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar is scheduled to appear on Monday before the Knesset Education Committee to discuss the limits of freedom of expression in schools. Sa'ar refused to provide Haaretz with details of what action he plans to take. His statements, made in the Knesset plenum Wednesday, "speak for themselves," a spokesperson said.

An Iranian state television program defamed human rights lawyer and Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi in a heavily edited program on 10 June, and an associate and spokesperson for Ebadi’s organization was detained, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today.

Update, 21/06/2010: According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), Shiva has been transferred from solitary confinement to the women's section of Evin prison, which is a public prison. In an interview with the news agency, Reporters and Human Rights Activists of Iran on 12 June 2010, Shiva Nazar Ahari's lawyer, Mohammad Sharif, said: "After two different cases brought against Nazar Ahari were integrated, the [new date for the court] session has not yet been declared to us." Sharif announced that his client had been officially accused of 'Moharebeh' (enmity against God), and acts against national security through collective action and participation in the demonstrations. Such charges attract very severe sentences under Iran's Penal Code and Nazar Ahari and could face the death penalty. Please continue to write to the Iranian authorities calling for Iran to abide by its commitments under international laws and its own constitution.